Mike Wooten

Trooper Mike Wooten. Photograph: Al Grillo/AP

The Alaskan trooper who gave rise to the name Troopergate. He went through an ugly divorce from Sarah Palin's sister in 2006, at the time when Palin was starting her term as governor of the state. Wooten was alleged during the dispute to have made a death threat against Palin's father. The Palins claimed Wooten had shot his stepson with a Taser gun, commited driving violations and hunted a cow moose without a licence – allegations they used to try and have him fired even though an official inquiry had let him off such charges with a minor suspension. A key question during the ethics investigation into Palin's conduct was whether she applied pressure to have Wooten removed from his job for personal family reasons. Wooten was not fired and remains a trooper to this day.

Walt Monegan

Public safety commissioner Walt Monegan. Photograph: Al Grillo/AP

Alaska's public safety commissioner, in charge of law enforcement officers, was sacked by Palin in July 2008 shortly before Palin was plucked out of obscurity and made John McCain's vice-presidential running mate. Palin said she had dismissed Monegan because of policy differences, but he countered that he had been sacked because he had refused in turn to fire the trooper, Wooten. Monegan now works in a Native Alaskan charity in Anchorage.

Todd Palin

Todd Palin. Photograph: Thos Robinson/Getty Images

The "First Dude", Palin's husband, he was heavily implicated in the pressure placed on officials in Alaska during Troopergate. The official investigation into the matter noted that Palin had allowed Todd to use her office from which he contacted state employees exhorting them to sack his then brother-in-law, Wooten. He also together with Palin employed a private detective to look into the actions of the trooper. Frank Bailey, a close aide of Palin's, reported that Todd had instructed him to go after Wooten, saying: "It's time to get shit done."

Frank Bailey

Frank Bailey. Photograph: Mark Thiessen/Associated Press

One of Palin's inner circle while she was in the Alaskan governor's office and a close adviser, he has since turned on his former employer and written a kiss-and-tell memoir of his time with her called Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin. In it he draws on some of the thousands of emails she sent him from the governor's office. Bailey became embroiled in the Troopergate scandal after Todd Palin instructed him to try and get Wooten sacked, which he duly did. A taped phone call showed Bailey telling a senior official in the troopers: "Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads, 'Why on earth hasn't this, why is this guy still representing the department?'" Todd, Bailey claims, was pleased by his actions.

Stephen Branchflower

Stephen Branchflower. Photograph: Al Grillo/Associated Press

The person given the tricky job in 2008 of conducting an official investigation into whether Palin had violated Alaskan ethics rules by sacking Walt Monegan. The inquiry was carried out under a national spotlight: not only was Palin still in the governor's mansion at the time, but she was also running for the US vice-presidency. Branchflower, a former chief prosecutor in Alaska, was well used to pressure and produced a report that exonerated Palin of some claims but roundly censured her for abusing her governor's powers.